Another Story of Rape Stokes Outrage in India

A video showing a young girl walking around seeking help after being raped has sparked anger in India. Many people expressed outrage after CCTV footage showed a man appearing to wave the girl away when she approached him for help.

Police told local media that the girl, who walked around Ujjain city in Madhya Pradesh state for more than two hours, was eventually helped by some people.  A senior police official said a medical examination showed the girl was raped.  "Five people who came in contact with the girl are being questioned," Ujjain police superintendent Sachin Sharma told ANI news agency, adding that the girl was "incoherent and could not initially give any details about her whereabouts".   Police have not confirmed the girl's age yet.

A short CCTV video which surfaced online this week sparked condemnation from politicians and on social media. It shows the girl, who appears to be bleeding, walking on a road on Monday. At one point, she approaches a man who seems to wave his hand at her, before walking away again.  Police say they are reviewing other CCTV footage from the area to trace the route the girl walked before she got help.

Superintendent Sharma said the girl had been reported missing from Satna city (more than 435 miles from where she was found) on Sunday.  After her two-hour search for help, she was eventually helped by Rahul Sharma, whom media reports have described as a Hindu priest. He said the girl was bleeding when he found her.  "She could not speak. Her eyes were swollen," Rahul Sharma told news channel NDTV.   "I then inquired what had happened, but she spoke in a language that I did not understand; I also gave her a pen and paper but she could not write anything either," he told The Hindu newspaper. He said he gave her some clothes and called the police, who took her to the hospital.

On Wednesday night, police said in a statement that the girl's injuries had been treated and that she underwent surgery as well, without giving more details.  Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Misra said that the girl's condition was stable.  Opposition leaders in the state have condemned the incident and criticized the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the safety of women.

Priyank Kanoongo, chairperson of the National Commission for Protection Of Child Rights, told reporters that he had contacted local police and administrative officials in Madhya Pradesh to find out more about the incident.   Activist Yogita Bhayana, who has worked with several rape survivors, told the BBC that she was trying to trace the girl's family and get in touch with them to offer support.

Unfortunately, India is a country where women have been constantly fighting a regressive mindset that accepts and normalizes sexual violence against them.  Violent crimes against women have been in the spotlight in India since 2012, when the fatal gang rape of a young woman aboard a moving bus in Delhi prompted hundreds of thousands to take to the streets to demand stricter rape laws.  Outrage over the 2012 Delhi rape prompted thousands of women to take to the streets and spurred quick action on legislation, doubling prison terms for rapists to 20 years and criminalizing voyeurism, stalking and the trafficking of women. Indian MP's also voted to lower to 16 from 18 the age at which a person can be tried as an adult for heinous crimes.

Last year, data from India's National Crimes Recrods Bureau showed that crimes against women remain unabated over the previous six years.The numbers show a consistent year-on-year rise, except in 2020 - the year when the Covid-19 pandemic swept India and a hard lockdown forced the country to shut down for months.  In the year 2021 India recorded the highest number of crimes against women ever. 

Typically, acts of violence against women (rape, acid attacks, dowry killings, forced prostitution, honor killings) are committed by men as a result of the long-standing gender inequalities present in the country.  India's Gender Gap Index rating was 0.629 in 2022, placing it in 135th place out of 146 countries.  65% of Indian men believe women should tolerate violence in order to keep the family together, and women sometimes deserve to be beaten.

 

 

The Pretenders - A Love

Trump Tries to Gaslight People Into Thinking He's Pro-Union

Donald Trump claimed he came to Michigan to show solidarity with striking autoworkers. Instead, he fear-mongered about the transition to electric vehicles and told autoworkers they would be out of a job in two or three years even if they secured a contract with wage increases.  Trump’s visit came on the heels of Biden’s stop to walk a picket line at a General Motors parts plant in Wayne County, Michigan, the home base of the nation’s auto industry.

Trump's remarks undercut his message of wanting to stand in solidarity with striking autoworkers, casting their fight against the leadership of the Big Three automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — as ultimately inconsequential in the broader push for more carbon-neutral vehicles, which require fewer people to assemble.

Trump’s claims of wanting to show solidarity with rank-and-file laborers was undermined by the fact that he chose to appear at a non-union parts supplier, Drake Enterprises.  Trump’s audience was supposedly composed of “around 500 former or current union members.” But the number appeared to be closer to 300-- and as the crowd gathered, NBC News reporter Vaughn Hillyard estimated that only 20% of the people in the audience were UAW members, and only a small number of those were currently on strike. Trump, notably, also did not visit the UAW picket line during the union’s 2019 strike against General Motors, nor did he say much about that strike back then.

When asked this week if he wanted to meet with Trump, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain told CNN, “I see no point in meeting with him, because I don't think the man has any bit of care for what our workers care for, for what the working class stands for. He serves the billionaire class and that's what's wrong with this country.”

“I think if he was trying to appeal to labor voters, he wouldn’t go to a non-union supplier,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.).   “[Trump] keeps trying to use electric vehicles as a wedge issue — well, I’m going to push right back at him and tell him I want my domestic auto industry to be competitive in the global marketplace,” Dingell told HuffPost. “Electric vehicles are the future. This is where the rubber is hitting the road.”

Cassidy Hutchinson Spills The Tea

Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson's new book ("Enough") details the last days of the Donald Trump administration and is chock full of tantalizing details.  Whatever you thought was going on inside the Trump administration, the reality was likely much worse. 

CNN's initial review seems fairly extensive, and even the summary is a real hoot. "If I can get through this job and manage to keep [Trump] out of jail, I'll have done a good job," White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows allegedly told Hutchinson in June of 2020 as Trump's reelection fight was in full swing. 

One of the most noteworthy episodes of potential criminal activity in the White House is Hutchinson's allegations that Meadows was burning so many papers in his office fireplace that his wife complained she couldn't keep up with the dry cleaning. "[A]ll his suits smell like a bonfire," she complained. But Hutchinson also relates Meadows handing over classified documents to far-right media personalities, as well as both White House counsel Pat Cipollone's attempts to get them back and his acidic request to her to inform Meadows that "we cannot pardon Kimberly Guilfoyle's gynecologist.”  According to Hutchinson, that wasn't a joke. 

It seems the mishandling of classified documents was widespread in the Trump White House. On a Monday appearance on the “Rachel Maddow Show,” Hutchinson tactfully admitted that she and "colleagues" were "under the impression that how classified documents were being handled was not within proper protocol."

But it's Hutchinson's other examples of cavalier lawbreaking (and worse) that look to be the most noteworthy bits of her book. One example is her already-known account of Trump's furious demand that they get rid of the metal detectors at his January 6 rally and let the crowd stay armed.  In the week leading up to the book's release, the press has seized more quickly on some of the more tawdry goings-on, however. Among the first leaks from the book was Hutchinson's account of being groped by Rudy Giuliani on January 6, just before the mob stormed the Capitol.  While that;s another gross episode for Giuliani, it's not nearly as consequential as the coup attempt that the rally had been organized to help facilitate.

Likewise, there's Hutchinson's description of Rep. Matt Gaetz being an obnoxious sleaze-job.   She described a moment when Gaetz made a pass at her: "He chuckled and brushed his thumb against my chin, saying 'Has anyone told you that you're a national treasure?'"

Hutchinson also described a late night at Camp David where Matt Gaetz knocked on the door of a cabin, believing it belonged to her, since her golf cart was parked nearby.  In actuality, the cabin belonged to Kevin McCarthy, who answered the door.  Gaetz suddenly straightened his posture when McCarthy opened the door and asked him what he wanted.  Gaetz replied that he thought it was her cabin, having seen her cart outside.  Hutchinson heard what was going on, and opened the door of her cabin.  Gaetz claimed that he was lost, and turned to her, asking her for directions  Hutchinson told him to proceed around the circle drive-- "all the cabins are clearly marked. It's impossible to get lost."  Gaetz persisted, asking her one more time to leave with him, but McCarthy interjected-- saying, "Get a life, Matt."

Gaetz later tried to deny the incident happened-- and went so far as to call Hutchinson a liar and claimed that he dated her a number of years ago.  In response, Hutchinson said about Gaetz, "I never dated Matt Gaetz. I have much higher standards in men. And Matt, frankly is a very unserious politician."

 

Excitement in Chess World Over Anal Beads

An American grandmaster has denied using a vibrating sex toy to cheat.  In September 2022 Hans Niemann sat down to play Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen in chess's Sinquefield Cup St Louis, Missouri.   Niemann won, but was accused by Carlsen of cheating - a claim which sparked a huge legal row between the pair.  The pair settled a $100m lawsuit last month.

On Monday evening, Niemann spoke to Piers Morgan about the scrutiny he has faced since being accused of cheating. "It is very disheartening to be accused of cheating after that victory," he said.   "These things happen and I managed to learn a lot during that time and it really has taught me a lot of very important lessons about life and chess." 

Niemann told Morgan he believed the last year has "strengthened his resolve" as he insisted to the host he did not cheat. Morgan then brought up claims that Niemann was getting signals from someone through the remote-controlled sex toy.  "To be clear, on the specific allegation - have you ever used anal beads while playing chess?" Morgan asked.

The 20-year-old replied: "Well, your curiosity is a bit concerning, you know - maybe you're personally interested, but I can tell you, no. Categorically, no, of course not."

Online platform Chess.com was also sued by Niemann after an investigation by the firm claimed he had "likely" cheated in more than 100 games online.  Niemann admitted that he had cheated twice in online matches on Chess.com aged 12 and 16, but denied he had done so in the Sinquefield Cup or any in-person game-- saying he was even prepared to play naked to prove his innocence. He went on to accuse his detractors of trying to ruin his career.   "If they want me to strip fully naked, I will do it," said Niemann.  "I don't care, because I know I am clean. You want me to play in a closed box with zero electronic transmission, I don't care. I'm here to win and that is my goal regardless."

But there have been cases of players finding clandestine ways to cheat, including one who was caught with phones strapped to his leg and a micro earpiece telling him moves.  The current controversy over Niemann and anal beads is the biggest since 2006's "Toiletgate"-- when world championship challenger Veselin Topalov's team accused the champion Vladimir Kramnik of cheating during his "strange, if not suspicious" trips to the bathroom. A statistical analysis by Professor Kenneth Regan, widely regarded as the world's leading expert on cheating in chess, found no evidence Kramnik had cheated. 

 

Wisconsin GOP Going to Extremes to Cling to Power

In the northwest corner of Wisconsin, the 73rd Assembly District used to be shaped like a mostly rectangular blob. Then, last year, a new map drawn by Republican lawmakers took effect, and some locals joked that it looked a lot like a Tyrannosaurus Rex.  The new map bit off and spit out a large chunk of Douglas County, which tended to vote Democratic, and added rural swaths of Burnett County, which leans conservative.

The Assembly seat had been held by Democrats for 50 years. But after the district lines were moved, Republican Angie Sapik, who had posted comments disparaging the Black Lives Matter movement and cheered on the Jan. 6 rioters on social media, won the seat in November 2022.  The redrawing of the 73rd District and its implications are emblematic of the extreme gerrymandering that defines Wisconsin — where maps have been drawn in irregular and disconnected shapes over the last two decades, helping Republicans seize and keep sweeping power.

The new maps have given Wisconsin Republicans the leeway to move aggressively on perceived threats to their power. The GOP-controlled Senate recently voted to fire the state’s nonpartisan elections chief, Meagan Wolfe, blaming her for pandemic-era voting rules that they claim helped Joe Biden win the state in 2020. A legal battle over Wolfe’s firing now looms.

The future of a newly elected state supreme court justice, Janet Protasiewicz, also is in doubt. Her election in April shifted the balance of the court to the left and put the Wisconsin maps in peril. Republican leaders have threatened to impeach her if she does not recuse herself from a case that seeks to invalidate the maps drawn by the GOP. They argue that she’s biased because during her campaign she told voters the maps are “rigged.”

“They are rigged, period. Coming right out and saying that. I don’t think you could sell to any reasonable person that the maps are fair,” she said at a January candidates forum.  She added: “I can't ever tell you what I’m going to do on a particular case, but I can tell you my values, and common sense tells you that it’s wrong.”

 

Words From a Preacher Man

Jann Wenner is a Privileged Jerk Whose Name Should be Erased from the History of Rock and Roll

Controversy has swirled around Jann Wenner, founder of Rolling Stone magazine and cofounder of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, since The New York Times published an interview with him on Sept. 15. The key takeaway was his stunningly offensive decision to include only white male rock and rollers in his latest book.  Wenner’s comments wound up getting him booted from the Rock Hall’s board of directors in 20 minutes, and his “apology” isn’t winning him any points either.

When asked about his decision to exclude female and black artists from his book, Wenner defended the decision by saying none of the women he encountered while at the magazine were "articulate enough"; ditto for Black artists like Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield.  The fact that Wenner felt he was safe enough to admit that he believed that Black and female artists, in his estimation, just didn’t “articulate enough” on the same “intellectual level” is incredible. 

For the record, the articulate white men Wenner did laud in his book are Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Peter Townshend, Jerry Garcia, Bono, and Bruce Springsteen.  The funny thing about Jann Wenner‘s foolishness is that Mick Jagger has talked about how he’s been influenced by Black artists, even got his dance moves from Tina Turner, herself. And pretty much everybody in his raggedy book, either stole or learned from Black artists.

Wenner, who was forced out as chairman of the Rock Hall nominating committee in 2019 (for blocking female nominees, according to rumors), was removed from the Hall's board of directors shortly after his outrageous comments.

Iconic Black rockers Living Colour had plenty to say: “For someone who has chronicled the musical landscape for over 50 years, it is an insult to those of us who sit at the feet of these overlooked geniuses. To hear that he believes Stevie Wonder isn’t articulate enough to express his thoughts on any given subject is quite frankly, insulting. To hear that Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Tina Turner, or any of the many women artists that he chooses not to mention, are not worthy of the status of ‘master’ smacks of sexist gatekeeping and exclusionary behavior."  To add insult to injury, Wenner took his magazine’s name from a song by a Black man, and many of the “masters” in his book are well-known devotees of female and (especially) Black artists.

Wenner’s Rolling Stone magazine has long been criticized for its misogynistic tendencies, as noted by The Guardian.  Feminist critic Ellen Willis refused to write for Rolling Stone, calling it “viciously anti-woman”.  Rolling Stone “habitually refers to women as chicks and treats us as chicks, ie interchangeable cute fucking machines”, read Willis’s comment. Willis, writing in 1970, also said that Wenner’s bias against revolutionary politics fed the oppression of women.  “To me, when a bunch of snotty upper-middle-class white males start telling me politics isn’t where it’s at, that is simply an attempt to defend their privileges. What they want is more bread and circuses,” she wrote.

Despite frequent protests to the contrary, the kind of artists that Wenner and his Hall have choosen to immortalize come from within Wenner's narrow field of vision. In an oral history of the women who transformed the magazine into a professional operation, former editor Barbara Downey Landau noted that there was a sign over the desk of Wenner's secretary that said "Boys' Club," and a Black photographer didn't shoot a cover until 2018. In Joe Hagan's Wenner biography, Sticky Fingers, former Rolling Stone publisher Claeys Bahrenburg summarized Wenner's ideals in the disco heyday of the late '70s: "Every day it was strictly rock-and-roll white bands. He would no more put a black person on the cover than a man on the moon." At the Rock Hall, these tendencies resurfaced. 

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats - Tight Rope

Florida Nutjob Shoots His Neighbor For Trimming a Tree

A Florida man fatally shot a neighbor who was trimming trees along a property line the two men shared, police said. Edward Druzolowski, 78, was arrested Sunday after he allegedly fired a single fatal shot at his neighbor, 48-year-old Brian Ford, who was outside trimming trees along their property line in DeLeon Springs.

The Volusia County sheriff’s office said that Druzolowski confronted Ford about being on his property before the fatal shooting.  “Druzolowski told detectives he threatened to shoot Ford, and when Ford didn’t leave, he shot him,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. Ford was pronounced dead at the scene.

It was the latest in a long line of shootings this year by angry homeowners who have opened fire on people who accidentally crossed over their property line. In Florida alone, police have responded to multiple reports of threats and shootings by homeowners.

In June, a Florida man fired 30 rounds at his pool cleaner after he mistook the cleaner for an intruder. The shooter wasn’t charged thanks to Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which allows homeowners to fire on someone they believe to be a threat.

A 78-year-old with osteoporosis, Druzolowski told detectives he brought the gun for protection because he feared what being shoved to the ground would do to his body. Druzolowski’s wife told detectives her husband only meant to “scare” Ford. Druzolowski has been charged with second-degree murder and is being held without bond.

National experts said some owners of firearms in the United States, with its prevalent gun culture, struggle to make split-second decisions that don’t end in death because the shooters are riddled with fear or paranoia, or lack understanding of their legal protections. Many Americans are afraid of each other, and fear mixed with guns can often lead to needless death, they say.

Florida, the nation’s third-most populated state, has earned the nickname “Gunshine State” — state data shows there is one gun permit for every eight Floridians. Legislators approved a bill in March allowing people to carry concealed firearms without a permit or proof of training, often dubbed “constitutional carry.” 

 

Escalating Tensions Between Canada and India

The escalating row between the two countries centers on the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen shot dead outside a Sikh temple on June 18 in British Columbia.

On the evening of June 18, Canadian police found Hardeep Singh Nijjar with multiple gun shot wounds in his pick-up truck, which was in the car park of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.  Nijjar succumbed to his injuries at the scene and local police later said that he had been shot by two masked men.  Nijjar was the temple's president and a prominent Sikh leader who publicly campaigned for Khalistan - the creation of an independent Sikh homeland in the Punjab region of India.  For several months, his killing remained unsolved.

Relations between India and Canada began to deteriorate after Canadian PM Justin Trudeau said there were "credible allegations" that the Indian state may be linked to Nijjar's  murder.  Nijjar had publicly campaigned for Khalistan - the creation of an independent Sikh homeland in the Punjab region of India. Trudeau said Canadian intelligence were pursuing "credible allegations" of a link between his death and the Indian state.

India firmly rejected Trudeau's allegations, calling them "absurd" and politically motivated. adding  that Canada had long provided shelter to "Khalistani terrorists and extremists" who threaten India's security.  Canada expelled top Indian diplomat, Pavan Kumar Rai, over the row, followed by India expelling a senior Canadian diplomat.

Nijjar's son, Balraj Nijjar, said he was surprised by Trudeau's remarks because the family felt "like nothing has been done" in the three months since the shooting.  The World Sikh Organisation of Canada condemned the killing and called on India to cooperate with the Canadian government over the investigation.

 

Just Sayin'

Unarmed Pedestsrian Was Shot Dead Because a Car Driver was "Afraid" of Him

A Washington state man was fatally shot outside of his home by a “scared” driver after he slowed down traffic to help deer pass. 37-year-old Dan Spaeth was standing outside his home in Snohomish County on Sept. 7 with his wife to alert passing drivers that deer were crossing the road, according to an affidavit of probable cause first obtained by The Seattle Times.

Just before 8 p.m., Spaeth’s wife called 911 to report her husband had been shot a single time by someone in a passing vehicle. His wife said the two were on their property when she heard a loud “pop” and turned to see her husband lying in the road with a gunshot wound to his chest, according to the affidavit. Spaeth died at the scene.

The next day, on Sept. 8, officers with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office arrested 22-year-old Dylan Picard in connection to the shooting, The Washington Post reported Friday. When a sergeant asked if Picard knew why he was being arrested, Picard allegedly told the officer, “I shot somebody.”  Picard later told investigators he saw Spaeth yell at a passing vehicle and hit the car with his hands. Picard became “scared” and grabbed his loaded gun, according to the affidavit. Picard then fired one shot out of his open passenger window to “scare the male and female” but did not know he had hit someone. He has been charged with second-degree murder.

It’s the latest senseless shooting in the U.S. by individuals reacting with gun violence to otherwise harmless situations. In April, two cheerleaders in Texas were shot after one of them accidentally entered the wrong car. In May, a 14-year-old girl in Louisiana was shot by a man after she was playing hide-and-seek on his property. In August, a 9-year-old girl riding her scooter in Chicago was shot by a man who later told police he was upset over noise.  And the list goes on.

 

Chuck Todd Finally Getting the Boot From 'Meet the Press'

After a long nine years, the head honchos at NBC finally came to their senses and are dumping Chuck Todd from their once-flagship Sunday show, "Meet the Press" (MTP).  

When Todd was elevated to host of "Meet The Press" in 2014, we already knew it was the potential death knell for a show whose legacy was built by the great Tim Russert.  In an NPR interview, Chuck Todd made it clear that he didn't believe it was his job to educate viewers and inform them when politicians spread misinformation.  Todd thinks his job is merely to convey politicians  pronouncements-- with no care about whether they are true or false.   But the fact is that scrutinizing claims (particularly those from powerful officials) is an essential part of journalism.  It should have been an embarrassment to Todd to have media observers cite such elementary principles to one of the nation’s most influential reporters-- but the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics (under the heading “Seek Truth and Report It”) says that the very first tenet implores journalists to “test the accuracy of information from all sources.”

Joan Walsh, National Affairs Correspondent for The Nation, once said that Todd was the poster model for journalistic ineptitude, and that his claim to fame may be his inability to push back on fallacious claims and outright lies.  His performance at the first 2019 Democratic presidential debate was widely criticized, after viewers were left with the impression that the debate was more about Todd pontificating about the issues instead of giving the candidates a forum for their views.  That assessment was actually backed by data: A tally of words spoken during the debate showed that he spoke more than seven of the candidates-- despite having four other moderators, no less!

DeSantis Overseeing Soaring Hospitalization Rates in Florida

The morons in Ron DeSantis' Florida administration are continuing to advise people under the age of 65 not to get the updated COVID vaccine-- guidance that is in complete opposition to recommendations from federal health officials.  The continued stupidity of the DeSantis administration is amid a rise in coronavirus-related hospitalizations.  Florida currently has the highest rate of COVID hospitalizations in the country.

Current COVID hospitalization rates (red and yellow counties rated the worst).

 

Florida Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo, who opposed vaccines for most children and the use of masks during the height of the pandemic, based his reasoning on his personal skepticism about the vaccines’ safety. “I just think that at this point, with the amount of immunity that’s in the community, with virtually every walking human being having some degree of immunity, and the questions we have about safety and about effectiveness ― especially about safety ― my judgment is that it is not a good decision for young people and for people who are not at high risk, at this point in the pandemic,” he said during a panel discussion.

CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen has reiterated that COVID vaccines are completely safe and have undergone rigorous testing. “They are proven safe; they are effective, and they have been thoroughly and independently reviewed by the FDA and CDC,” she said in a statement sent to HuffPost. “Public health experts are in broad agreement about these facts, and efforts to undercut vaccine uptake are unfounded and dangerous.”

GOP governor DeSantis also advised against the shots approved for use this week by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They are expected to be available to the public this week.   “I will not stand by and let the FDA and CDC use healthy Floridians as guinea pigs for new booster shots that have not been proven safe or effective,” DeSantis said in a statement.  For the record, COVID vaccines, like flu shots and other vaccines, have been proven safe and effective, despite the idiotic statements from vaccine deniers like Ron DeSantis.

Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, also defended federal safety and efficacy standards for vaccines.  “The public can be assured that these updated vaccines have met the agency’s rigorous scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality,” he said in a statement. “We very much encourage those who are eligible to consider getting vaccinated.”

The CDC and FDA back in March sent a letter to Ladapo that slammed his past comments on COVID-19 vaccines, saying his claims that the shots are linked to health risks are “incorrect, misleading and could be harmful to the American public.”  Former Florida Surgeon General Dr. Scott Rivkees, who preceded Ladapo but was largely out of public view during the pandemic after encouraging social distancing and mask-wearing, also hit back at DeSantis and Ladapo’s messaging. He called it contrary to conventional public health norms.  “COVID is a vaccine-preventable disease,” Rivkees, who resigned as surgeon general in 2021 and now teaches at the Brown University School of Public Health, told USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida. “These vaccines are very safe and very effective.”

The CDC recommends that everyone ages 6 months and up get the latest vaccine, designed to fight the most common variants of the virus that are circulating, to help prevent serious illness and death.  Nationwide, COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths have been incrementally rising since July.  Hospitalizations grew by nearly 9% in the week ending Sept. 2, while COVID-19 deaths increased by more than 10%, the CDC reported.

There are currently more people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida than in any other state, with roughly 12 new hospitalizations reported per 100,000 in the week ending Sept. 2. This is a 4.4% increase from the previous week, according to data obtained and shared by the CDC.  The EG.5 subvariant ― nicknamed “Eris” ― is currently causing the majority of cases in the United States.

 

Wilco - Evicted

Man in Hamster Wheel Banned From Ocean

A man was arrested in Florida after he tried to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a giant hamster wheel.  Reza Baluchi, an Iranian athlete, got about 70 miles off the Georgia coast until he was spotted in the contraption by the US Coast Guard. He then proceeded to have a nearly three-day standoff with the USCG, in which he refused to leave the hamster wheel, claiming he wanted to keep going to London.  Eventually, authorities extracted him from the vessel, which was judged to be “manifestly unsafe”, and took him back to shore.

Baluchi, 51, embarked on his bizarre voyage days before Hurricane Franklin hit parts of the Caribbean and the East coast.  When authorities caught up with him, he “replied that he was armed with a 12-inch knife and would attempt to commit suicide should the USCG officers attempt to remove him,” court documents said. Baluchi then threatened to blow himself up if he was removed from the hamster wheel. “USCG officers again ordered Baluchi off the vessel, but he again refused. It was then that Baluchi informed the USCG officers that the bomb was not real.”

Incredibly, this is not Baluchi’s first run-in with the Coast Guard. His last voyage, in 2021, ended in a similar way, after he tried to reach New York from Florida in a human-powered ball. His trip was curtailed when he realised he had forgotten his GPS and charging cables, and he was forced to return to the shore. As court documents state, Baluchi may not "go to the ocean or board a vessel on the ocean'" as a result.

 

 

Nicole Wallace Calls Out Tuberville's Blatant Ignorance

 MSNBC's Nicole Wallace appeared visibly shocked by what she described as the latest display of ignorance from Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) as he continues to block military promotions in the Senate in protest of the Pentagon’s abortion policies.

Tuberville told reporters that he was sure that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley would remain in the role, even after his official October 1 departure date, until a replacement was named. “I’ll call Milley and wish him good luck, but I don’t know whether he’ll go anywhere until they get somebody confirmed,” said the Alabama Republican.

The reporters explained that Milley was required to leave by law.  To which Tuberville replied, “He has to leave?”  He blurted further, "We’ll get somebody else to do the job. But hopefully, it’s done by then.”

Wallace couldn’t believe the exchange. “Hopefully what’s done? You’re the problem,” she said.

Tuberville has singlehandedly been blocking military nominations and promotions from advancing in the Senate for months, leading to a backlog of hundreds. He says he is doing so to protest the Defense Department’s policy of allowing service members to take time off to seek abortion care in states where it’s available.  Tuesday’s exchange was just “another layer of Tuberville’s profound and embarrassing ignorance about the U.S. military,” Wallace said.

 

A Word of Caution on Knuckleheads Like Musk

Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post is giving a major thumbs-down to private control of a vital communications networks.  Yesterday, Robinson made it clear that it was unacceptable that the world’s richest man can, at a whim, turn on and off a vital communications network, such as the one being used by Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression. 

Robinson wrote, "I don’t know what Musk thinks about the possibility that Chinese President Xi Jinping will launch an invasion of Taiwan — though I do know that China is the world’s biggest market for electric vehicles and that Musk is trying awfully hard to sell Tesla automobiles there. I don’t know what he thinks about China’s border dispute with Pakistan or what he thinks about the Middle East. I really shouldn’t have to care"

The WaPo columnist proposes that the U.S. government deploy its own low-Earth-orbit satellite array, whose use would be determined by the president and the military chain of command.  The U.S. spends far more on defense than any other nation, on the premise that we’re buying the latest, most advanced, most effective gadgets on the planet. If our aid to Ukraine is so beholden to one man — three of whose 10 children are named Techno Mechanicus, Exa and X — then we must be doing something seriously wrong.

How to deal with the gravest threat to peace and security in Europe since the end of World War II should be a matter for our elected officials. No one elected Elon Musk.

 

Trump's Mystery Office With Boxes "Everywhere"

Former President Donald Trump is currently facing 40 counts in the investigation involving classified documents kept at his Mar-a-Lago resort. But despite the indictment detailing how Trump allegedly transported some of those documents away and even reportedly showed them off to a writer at his New Jersey golf facility, it appears the FBI never searched this nearby office or other Trump locations.

Considering the number of properties Trump owns, searching them all would be a challenge. But it seems like an exception might be made for the office detailed in an NBC report. That office is just 10 minutes down the road from Mar-a-Lago, in a building that also houses offices of the Secret Service and IRS. Not only is it reported that there were “boxes everywhere” in the office, it is also known to have housed classified materials at one time.  And best of all, the office is paid for with taxpayer funds.

The office in question is on North Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach, Florida. According to NBC, this location is being rented out of funds intended for Trump’s post-presidential office. The office nameplate is covered over with a blank piece of paper and there is no sign on the door. Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung claims he “never heard of” the North Flagler office.  However, according to NBC, it has “apparently housed classified material.”  Reportedly, the office still has boxes piled against the wall and in the main room. 

According to a February article in The Guardian, at least one box of documents with classified markings were transported to Mar-a-Lago from “another office in Florida” some time after the FBI completed its search of Trump’s resort. These documents appear to have come from the North Flagler office.

It’s reported that several of Trump’s aides working for his campaign or PAC have worked out of his post-presidential office, presumably meaning the North Flagler location. That would be a violation of federal law, which prohibits partisan activities in what is a government facility. Asked about this, Cheung reportedly failed to respond.

 

Indeed

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